Soul Field
by Shadow Independent
Summary: A psychiatric professor visits Soul Field on research of strange dreams and his patience's connection to the place. But what turns out to be a 3 month stay ended up to be 11 years. His son, Alphonse Greyson recieves a disturbing call from his father...
1. Intro

**Soul Field**

**Intro**

My name is Alphonse Greyson, I am 18 years old in Brockton Massachusetts. I live by myself, no girlfriend or anything and most of my friends left for our own separate ways, stay in touch once and a while. I attend the Art Institute of New England to major in film directing. My father was a psychiatrist at a mentally insane ward in Boston. He was researching on his own project about cases of hallucinations about monsters and a foggy town. It was strange for him because most of these patiences had the same visions, including a place called "Soul Field". Convinced that these cases are linked somehow, he just decided to pack up and leave for Soul Field in Maine. It was suppose to be a 3 month stay, we kept in touch for the first three weeks, but than he just went quiet. I don't know his number since he always called. I guessed he was having fun or bust since he always told me that the town was beautiful and all.

But something was horribly wrong... he never returned from the travel, never called or anything. It has been two years since that trip and nothing came from him. I feared the worst and I tried to reach him, but he told me that "If I don't respond, call or anything, stay where you are, I am probably really busy and don't want to be disturbed, I might even be here for a little longer...". So I stayed in School and attended all of my classes. It was until one day I did receive a phone call from him. I ran to the phone and picked it up, the caller I.D. Said it was his cell phone. "Hello? Dad, is that you? I was worried sick about you, you never called and you have been away for way to long..." their was no reply, I checked my phone and I was still connected. It was silent, not even breathing. Than a faint moan was heard, than it grew louder and louder. Than my fathers voice screamed through the line, than I lost connection. I dropped the phone and ran to my room to pack my stuff, the two words from my fathers screams burning in my skull. I loaded up my pickup truck and drove as fast as I could to the freeway. Those words will haunt me forever, even until I die. "Help me..." I whispered to myself, because those are the last words I will ever hear from him again.


	2. Day: 1

**Day: 1**

It was probably around 5:00 AM in the morning, the highway is pretty much empty seeing how it's so early. Fog is rolling in from the ocean making Soul Field ever more unappealing the closer I was. Suddenly, a figure of a girl appeared through the mist. I slowed down and pulled over next to her, you know, thinking she might want a ride. "Hello miss? You need a ride?" I asked. She seemed distracted by the town. After a good minute, she looked over to me, her hair was rumpled and a small cut on her cheek. Her clothes was that of a city teen. She was pretty cute, probably seventeen or eighteen years old. I asked again " You need a ride?". Another minute went by until she spoke in a slow, tired voice "I don't think so..." I was sort of suspicious, just that she wasn't really into the program. "You sure? It's kind of chilly out here and you don't seem to have a pack or anything. And to be honest, you don't look so good. Don't worry! I won't rape you or anything..." She hesitated than accepted the offer. She went around the car and sat in the passenger seat. "Thanks" she said in the same slow, exhausted voice. "No problem" I replied.

I turned off the radio to give her some silence. I looked in the rear view mirror and spotted something unnatural. At first I thought it was a goose or something crossing the road, but as it approached, A horrid form of what looked like a person wrapped in a strait jacket. I freaked out at the sight of what I thought it was and whipped my head to look at it myself, only to see nothing. The girl also freaked out, just because of my sudden jolt of movement. "What?" she asked, eyes wide, showing redness. "Nothing, It's nothing..." I tapped the gas and we were off to Soul Field.

As the car approached the street, we noticed empty cars parked and abandoned, broken windows and rust were easily visible. The streets were covered with dead vegetation and pieces of newspaper. I slowly maneuvered around the obstacles, questions in my mind of what happened here. After clearing the blockade, we continued down Faith Ave. to a small hotel at the end of the street. "Do you have a place to stay?" I asked the girl. She shook her head, still silent for some reason, probably the sight of the deserted cars. Seeing how my father practically made me rich I asked "I don't think you might mind so much but maybe I can rent you a room, I got a ton of money so your welcome to anything you might like." She looked at me and gave a small smile, than she looked out the window again.

I parked the car in front of the hotel, shut it off and we both entered the building. It was pretty much empty outside as well as it was on the inside. The marble floor was full of dust, cobwebs formed in the corners as well as the lobby's balcony. The lobby chairs were torn with the cushion stuffing hanging out. As the little girl and I approached the front counter I noticed a painting of the town in it's recent years, on the bottom, the plaque Soul Field 1876 was branded. It depicted a street full of people greeting and working. "It looked so pleasant..." I said to myself. "What?" the girl asked. I motioned toward the painting and she to looked. "I wonder what happened..." she said. I found a bell on the counter and I rang it. A tall fat man came out from what looked like a closet. "Why hello there! I'm Gerald, I'll be your clerk, room service, and cook, how may I help you?" the man greeted. "What brings you here? Oh, don't mind me, it's not my business! We have plenty of rooms for you to choose from! We have one good one with a great view of the town!" The girl turned toward me and whispered "there isn't much to see..." The man broke in on the conversation, seeming not to notice her comment. "The room will cost you a little extra, but we may be able to work something out!"

"No need to bother, I have plenty of money." I replied to him. The tall man was sort of taken back by my confidence in money, he looked to the girl and asked "Is she with you?" I shook my head but I asked her "Do you have a place to go?" She shook her head in silence. "well you can stay if you want, do you want separate rooms or do you want to share?" she looked at me for a moment and replied "Share". I turned toward the clerk and said "Me and the little miss will share a room". At first Gerald raised an eye brow, than he surprised us with another burst of energy. "Ok! Your rooms are right this way..." He lead us up a few flights of stairs to the thirteenth floor. Usually, hotels don't list a thirteenth floor but strangely, this one did. We entered a dark hallway with some floorboards pried off leaving visible view of the floor below. Others were rotting with dust on them and cracks. Gerald doesn't seem to notice or even mind the damages of the hotel. There were no doors in this long hallway except two, one is the our room while the other is the emergency exit that we came through. The girl asked "You wouldn't happen to have an elevator would you?" Gerald just waved a hand and said "The only elevator we have is the service elevator, that is where you place an order, I cook what you want, than I send it up to you! This place is to old for fancy elevators or things like that. The only thing fancy are the key cards for the doors!" As he said this, he whipped out a card key from his pocket and inserted it into the door room lock.

Gerald opened the door to a nicely air conditioned suite. It was a big suite, 2 bathrooms, a living room, 2 bedrooms, and a small kitchen. In the living room was a very large window with a view of the foggy town. Gerald bade us goodbye and walked off toward the emergency exit. I turned toward the teen who was looking out at the deserted streets below, I gave her a few moments of her time and instead walked around the suites. The fridge was empty as well as the freezer, there was nothing in the cabinets. There were no plates, or even silverware. It was kind of irritating that just when it started to look good, we still don't have what we needed. "Do you want to come with me and get some food and things? Because to be frank with you, you look like you need some clothes." She looked at me with a smile and walked toward me. "Sure!" was her reply. We both headed toward the exit when suddenly, she looked down the hallway at nothing. "What is it?" I asked. She shook her head and kept on walking. I shrugged and followed her downstairs. Entering the lobby wasn't as creepy as we first entered, the only surprise was that Gerald is absent from the front desk. We left for the truck and we headed deeper into town. As usual it was pretty empty in the streets. We pulled up to what appeared to be an avenue lined with deserted stores. I parked the car and We both got out, the air was cool and still foggy. The sun was setting but we still had enough light to see inside the stores. "I'm going to get some clothes at that store." The girl said, pointing at Nancy's Closet. I was fine with it as I headed for the grocery store right across the street. "just meet back here in like 5 min ok?" she nodded and entered the store. I headed for Sill's food market which was actually a corner store.

Upon entering the store, I was caught right off guard, the food and merchandise was all over the floor, judging by the complete mess, this place was broken into and robbed. Suddenly a man from behind the corner popped out and pointed a gun at me. "Who goes there?! Who are you?!" I was to busy ducking behind a tipped over shelf to answer his question. "Who are you?!" he screamed again. "I'm Alphonse Greyson! Don't shoot1 I'm unarmed". He withdrew his gun, then he lunged out at me, pinning me to the floor. "Listen to me, and listen good, get out of here! This place is crawling with them! Crawling!" I didn't know what he was getting at, so I did what anyone would do... ask. "Who? Whose "crawling" around?" He didn't answer me, instead he got off me and ran behind the counter. "Just get out of here, save yourself!". Than he went into a trap door under the counter. I waited for a good while before I picked myself off from the floor, shaking off the recent assault. Seeing how the guy just bolted downstairs I don't think he minds much if I took a few things from here.

So I just went around and picked up anything I though useful like canned foods, cereal, milk, cokes, flashlights, matches, chips, anything I can find. I made a few trips to the truck to drop things off. On my last trip, I saw the girl leaving the store across from me. I waved her down and I made my last trip. On my way out, I grabbed all of the rolls of scratch tickets and left. "So... how was your shopping experience?" I asked the girl. "It was kind of strange, no one was inside... But look at all these clothes!" She dropped a whole bundle in back, I put the back cover on to stop anything from flying out. "Before we go, I'm gonna check something..." I ran back inside, the cash register was open so I grabbed as much as I could and stuffed the bills into my wallet. "thanks man.." And I left.

As the Truck pulled away, a faint scream cracked through the silent air, a sound of pain. "What was that?" the girl asked. I shrugged, wondering what it was also.


	3. Day: 2

**Day: 2**

We had a good sleep last night, the cabinets, fridge, and freezer were filled to the max. we left for the mall to go get some more things like clothes and the such. As we left, again the clerk wasn't at his station but we did notice a few drop of blood on the counter top. We thought it best to see it as a nosebleed. We got in the truck and sped off toward the mall, we had a brochure of it with the map for getting there and the map of the mall itself from the lobby. It looks pretty useful seeing how it's a big mall. Today's weather was the same as yesterdays: foggy, cool, and a bit misty. It was a 20 min drive from the hotel and it wasn't that hard to find (Actually, I almost blew right past the exit until the girl screamed at me to stop, I'm still recovering from a small heart attack). The parking lot was jammed packed with cars, but they to were left to rust, So we just decided to park right in front of it for the hell of it. The doors were locked so we decided to break into it, there were no alarms to go off.

The first store on our left was a woman clothing store. "Jennifer's Dress and Clothes... sounds like for me!" the girl said cheerfully. We both entered the store and her eyes grew wide with excitement. This store looked like a thing for goth, boots, armbands with tiny spikes, checkered skirts and the like. She rushed to the nearest clothes rack and dove right through. Letting her be to fun I started to hack my way at the cash register. "What are you doing?" the girl asked me, though not even looking in my direction. "I'm trying to get us some money". She looked at me quizzically for a moment. "what for? Theres like no one here!" I picked up the cash register and threw it on the floor, making a very loud bang. "For the guy at the hotel. You do know we have to pay him right?" I said. The register had a very large crack on it's side, giving me satisfaction that it doesn't take to much effort to smash. The girl went back to her sorting. "Well you don't have to make that much of a racket! Anyway, I never told you my name did I?" I shook my head, to busy trying to get the money out. "My names Lily, what was yours again?" I thought I told her my name but I answered anyways. "My names Alphonse, Alphonse Greyson."

She stood still for a moment, her back toward me. "You wouldn't be related to a professor Greyson would you? One who specializes in Psychology?" I raised an eyebrow at the question but I responded "yes". She still stood for a moment. Than she continued sorting. I had to ask but than it struck me, the only reason she would know him is that she must be one of the patience! I held my question and instead concentrated on getting the last dollar bill out of the register. After going to the dressing room and getting her new pair of clothes on, she walked up to me and gave me a small kiss on the cheek. "I knew your father very well, he was like a father to me..." than she walked off in silence toward the entrance. She turned to me with a smile and yelled "are you coming? I don't think you should leave a girl around by herself!". I hesitated, shocked by her sudden mood swing. "Coming!" I yelled back.

After going through a few more clothes stores and toy stores (Lily thought it best to get a few board games for fun). We got to the serious stuff, a store called the Outdoors Man. This place had everything from knives to flares, tents and packs. What surprised me when we entered is that Lily ran straight to the knives section. She ooh and ah things in the glass display. "What are you looking at?" I asked, somewhat amused of her childlike behavior. "Isn't it obvious? I like knives!" her eyes wide. "I can see that..." holding back a small laugh. "get as much as you want, and don't forget about me also! I'll be over here getting things we made need..." I looked over to her, seeing her wave me off with a weak flick of her wrist. I headed for the backpacks to get something for us to carry things in. after getting the two largest backpacks for me and her, I went to the pyrotechnics area to get some flares and flare guns. Than I got us a lamp and a few matches in case the flashlights die. Then I came upon something that made me excited.

"What?" Lily asked, hearing me from across the room. "What is it?" she asked again. "Get over here!" I yelled. She strolled over with knives in her arms, in sheathes of coarse. When she stood next to me, she to gaped. In front of us stood a whole variety of paint ball and hunting guns. We jumped over the counter and started looting the gun racks. We loaded up on shotguns, pistols, crossbows, sniper rifles, and paint ball guns. Ammunition were under the counter so we headed back to the truck to make our second run. "You think we need to hold onto one in case we meet someone else creepy? I wouldn't mind scaring someone for a change!" I was looking at the guns laid out in back. "now, now, that would be impolite... but seeing how there is like no one here, you can use a paint ball gun!" she was taken back at my statement. "paint ball? Lame!" I turned on her which made her jump. "Hey! I don't feel like dying from you thanks!" she curled her lips and accepted the gun quietly. As for me, I took a pistol. We headed back inside, our packs were empty except for some flares, a bouncy ball that Lily felt entertained, and 4 knives between us. I also had a baseball bat for any other cash register I met.

We loaded our packs up with ammunition and headed back toward the car again to drop off the load. We came back in and headed for the Asian Garden Restaurant to eat. The place was a complete mess. "Why is it that everywhere we go, it's a mess and deserted? Why is it that no one is here?" I shrugged, my stomach growling. "Lets go into the kitchen, there should be some food left to eat." She gave me a disgusted look, which to me I knew she was going to ask. "Why? We don't know how old the food is here! It could be a year old for all we know!" I was already heading toward the kitchen door as I noticed a trail of blood through the double doors into the kitchen. I told her to stop and I peaked my head through the small window. On the floor in front of us was a rotting corpse, Its head and legs missing. "What? What is it?" She asked. I was to busy repressing my vomit. She brushed passed me and entered the doors, I was trying to hold her back but my hand missed her shoulder.

She stood, looking around, like she didn't even notice what was in front of her. Getting my breakfast secure, I entered after her, it was a sort of a shock to me, the body was gone! The blood vanished as well, only to be replaced by dust bunnies on the floor. I wiped my hand on the floor just to expect some kind of liquid feel. There was none. Lily arched an eyebrow, suspicious of my actions but didn't ask, and I was glad she didn't because I was to hungry and freaked out by the apparition. I Shrugged off the freaky feeling and headed toward the fridge, power was still running for who knows how long but the good thing is that it works. Inside were a few packages of frozen spring rolls, dumplings, and ribs. I took all of these out and laid them on the counter top behind me. Next I went to the food pantry and found some rice. "Hey Lily, why don't you give me a hand on this stuff? We can get things done a whole lot faster..." She was staring off at the fridge but than snapped out of it. "what? Oh, sure! Just one problem, I can't cook!" I just shrugged and gave her a package. I just told her to read the instructions on the back and get it ready. After a good 15 minutes of food preparation I started to cook. "Just to let you know, I'm not the best cook but at least we will have something to eat." Lily just headed toward the fridge and opened it, looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" I asked her. "Nothing." was her reply. Probably half an hour had passed with a few cuts and burns but the food was finally done. We took a food trolley and wheeled the food outside to the tables. After we positioned the tables and chairs from the floor, we put the food on the table and lit three electrical lanterns for visibility in the dark restaurant. The food was pretty good, only I burnt half of the spring rolls. After the big feast, we headed for the bathrooms in the back of the room, it was pretty dark and the walls were peeling, kind of creepy. We brought the lanterns with us for some illumination. Before I made it to the boys room, Lily screamed from the girls room, I ran toward the door and practically bashed the door in. inside, Lily was on the floor crying, her lantern was on the floor, the plastic glass somehow shattered leaving fragments all over the floor. The light casted strange shadows on the wall, and one shadow caught my eye. I turned to it really quickly, only to have it melt into the other shadows. What I thought I saw scared th crap out of me. It looked like someone was hanged from the ceiling, I looked around but there was nothing that could have casted such a shadow. I turned to Lily who was still sobbing on the floor. "Lily are you alright?" She didn't answer but instead shook her head. I sat next to her and gave her a hug, and holding her head against my chest. "There, there, you'll be fine. I think you scared yourself or something. Do you still need to go to the bathroom?" She shook her head in a yes motion.

I got up to leave, leaving my lantern on the floor for her to use when she suddenly latched onto me around my wrist. "Don't go! Please! I... I don't want you to leave me..." Her eyes were red from the crying. "Ok, I'll just stand outside the stall ok? Does that make you feel better?" I said. "Yes..." was her response. I stood outside the stall, facing away toward the glass over the sinks. The tile floor was stained, like it wasn't cleaned for a while. The lights above were shattered, and the walls to were peeling like it was outside. The bathroom smelled foul, reeking from something decayed. My attention was drawn away as Lily flushed the toilet. She was better now, her tears wiped away. "Ok, it's my turn to go to the bathroom alright?" I said, Lily just smiled at me and said "Alright, but don't take to long!" she joked. After the bathroom break, we headed for the toy store, stopping at a soda machine, I smashed the logo in with a baseball bat and retrieved a few coke cans from the dispenser. We continued on to the store and as usual the place was dark and empty. Toys and shelves were strewn all over the place, probably a fight or something took place because there was blood marks all over the floor. We were here to pick up a few bored games in case we got bored, seeing how some of them were still sealed, we just packed them in our bags. I found a small plush rabbit on the floor and picked it up and placed it in my bag, making sure Lily didn't see me take it. (It will be a present for her later on).

Lily walked over to a certain spot on the floor and gave a small gasp, and seeing how the room was silent, it was audible from were I was. "what?" I asked. She picked up a small package of bouncy balls and put them in her backpack. She looked at me with a small smile. "What? I like bouncy ball's. Want some?" I just returned my attention to the board games in front of me and continued to sort through them. Through all the toy sorting, and playing with a couple of toy guns, we were all packed up and ready to leave. I zipped up my pack and shouldered it, Lily did the same. But she seemed to have found something on the floor. She picked up a small slip of paper and looked at it with a curious expression. "Hey, Al, look at this." She shoved me the piece of paper and began to read. "_What is so fragile that when you say its name, you break it?_" I gave it another run through and just gave up. "It's a riddle, I never really get them..." I turned my head to see what appeared to be some dog in the entranceway to the toy store. "Oh look, a dog!" Squealed Lily, crouching down and calling the dog over. "Here, doggy, doggy, doggy. Come to mommy..." The dog turned it's head to her calls and started to growl. I started to run right at us and it was showing no sign of slowing down.

"Hey!..." screamed Lily as I pulled her out of the dogs path. It kept on running right past where she was and collided with the far wall. "What was that for?!" Lily yelled at me. The dog recovered and ran at us again its eyes were reflecting off the sunlight that was shining through the malls sunroof. And all I can tell you is that they looked pretty mean. I took a hold on Lily again and I dragged her behind the cashiers desk. "Quiet!" I whispered harshly at her. I took a glance through the glass cashier desk and saw the dog looking around, than the light from outside gave us the horrid thing next to us. The dog was blind, film covering one eye while the other was gorged out, Its mouth was bent in odd angles, the the bottom jaw was unhooked on the left side. It was drooling all over the place. The side of the dog was just as worse. The ribs were protruding all over the place and its intestine was dragging around behind it. The tail was partly cutoff if it wasn't for a small piece of skin holding it together. There was a small piece of nylon attached to its body reading "_Watch dog_". The thing was repulsive to look at. "Eww..." was Lily's response to the sight of it. The dog seemed to hear her because it charged right at the glass case, shattering the outside glass.

I reached in my pack and puled out a tennis ball, I chucked it as far as I could and at the same time, motioning a quiet sound with my finger to my lips. Lily nodded and we slowly sneaked out as the dog ran off toward the bouncing tennis ball. As we reached outside, more of the dogs were patrolling the outside, thankfully, they didn't hear us run out. I whispered to Lily to take out a pack of bouncy balls that she took, she looked at me reluctantly at first but complied anyways. I opened the pack and all at once threw it as far as I could. The pack hit the far wall and about 15 Bouncy balls started bouncing in different directions, giving off echo's in the empty hallway. They all growled and ran after the sound. Me and Lily broke for the mall entrance. The door was unguarded so we just barged right through to the outside. The parking lot was empty thank god, and we just got in the truck and left.

On the highway, Lily seemed to be dazed, in a trance from what we just experienced. "You in shock?" I asked. Lily nodded. "Don't feel bad, those things were butt-ugly..." Lily let out a big sigh and tuned to me. "I know what the answer to the riddle is! Do you know?" she asked. 'Ummm... no..." was all I said, I didn't know because I didn't give it much thought. "Silence" was her answer. I gave it a little thought and chuckled to my self. "Ironic". Was my only reply. We entered the town after 5 minutes of driving. We pulled up to the hotel an started to unpack. As we entered the main lobby, The clerk was back at his post, wiping off the blood that we saw earlier. "Good morning Sir and misses!" he greeted us with a wave and walked off toward the lobby seats, fixing the cushions and wiping the dust off the table. We paid him no mind after that and started to make our trips between the truck and room, dragging up all the stuff we managed to salvage at the mall. After that, we locked up for the day and had a big dinner. We joked around a bit and played a few board games to ease our stress from today's nightmares. We agreed that we should talk to the clerk tomorrow and ask what the hell was going on here. We got into bed and fell fast asleep.


	4. Day: 3

**Day: 3**

The next morning, we ate a light breakfast and played a few more board games. Today was going be an easy day for all we were going to do was raid the electronics store down the street for a T.V., a DVD player, and a few movies. Plus, we were also going to stop by the police department and city hall, to get information on what happened around here. We got what we needed in our packs for todays little adventure including a few battery powered lanterns, snacks and bottled water, our hunting knives, two pistols (I think I trust Lily to use one now, though I am still uneasy...) ammo, and some tennis balls. I also brought a baseball bat in case we needed to break through more glass.

In the lobby, the clerk again wasn't there as usual. There was more blood on the counter top, which me and Lily began to worry. We rang the front desk bell a few times with no answer. We decided to go behind the counter and tried the door that the clerk always popped in and out of. The door was locked and there was no sound coming from it. I knocked on it a few times and still no answer. We gave up after that and went outside. The fog dissipated, leaving the air clear and everything was visible. That didn't help the part were the town was still empty. We drove the truck to the Electronics store, just... it took us a while to find it. Going down one street to the next, only seeing more empty places. The sun was being reflected off of buildings and windows, making it hard to see inside the stores or house, and those that the sun was not reflecting off of were to dark to see. After a good hour and a half, we finally found what looked like to be a electronics store. The place was empty like everything else with but one odd thing, the televisions, DVD players, VCR players, and the lights were on. All they showed were static or those colored bars that stations used. "Hello? Anyone here? Hello?" I yelled out, no one answered. Lily was hovering over the DVD rack on the far wall. "Hello?" I yelled again. There was a faint "_help me..._" somewhere.

Lily didn't notice the response, either to focused on the movies or that she just thought the place was empty and paid no mind. "Hello? Sir? Anyone?" I asked again, this time no response. Though disturbing as it was for me to hear a call for help, I probably lost my mind for a moment. The DVD players that were still in their packages were pretty fit with no dent or scratch on the box. I picked the best one and loaded it into the truck. Lily was following close behind with a stack of movies. I returned to get the biggest T.V. I could find and stuck that into the truck also. I returned to find Lily looking at game systems on the opposite wall from the T.V.'s, most of them were old but two of them came out recently. Lily looked at me with a smile on her face and asked "What do you think we should take?" I just stood there looking at them for a while and just said, "Whatever you think we can use, Just that I choose a few games..." She stuck out her hand behind her back, still eying the wares. I handed her the baseball bat. I backed away to the store entrance, where all the games were. Lily started to hack away at the glass, causing a few cracks but finally shattering the display case. I'll load these in back while you choose some of the games.

I nodded and breezed through the selection. I picked out a few action co-op games and party games. Lily returned and looked over what I have chosen. "You like killing things don't you?" joking at the action games I chose out. "Least you get to kill also..." I joked back. Suddenly, the cry for help was back, and this time Lily also heard it. "Hello?" I yelled, Lily was wide eyed, searching from the location of the cry. "_Help me... Help me..._" the cry was so faint that we couldn't tell where it's origin is. All of the T.V.'s turned off all at once except one. It was once of the onces with static, but instead of static sounds as it should, the cry for help was loud and defined. "_Help me! Help me! Oh god help me!..._" it was a chilling cry because we don't know how to respond to something coming from a T.V. The voice got louder and more angrier, sounding like a mad person because it was also laughing with the cries. It was as if, a soul was trapped in the T.V.

"_Help me! Help me! Help me! HaHaHaHaHa! You piece of... HaHaHaHa! Help for god's sake Help! I won't leave! I want to leave! Help!_" Me and Lily exchanged glances of fear. Lily yelled at the television, "How?! How do we help?!" the cries stopped with static. All of the T.V.'s turned on again at once with static. Than suddenly, the static froze and a face suddenly formed with the black and white dots. The black dots formed the nose, eyes, eyebrows, and mouth. The white dots formed the face shape and Iris. It looked like a face with red eyes, It was smiling a very odd smile. The picture unfroze and the head started to shake rapidly in every direction, cracking sounds from what could possibly the sound of bones cracking. Though it was not concentrating on us, the image cried again. "_Help me! What are you doing?! Help! I'm going to die! I want do die! I don't want to die! HaHaHaHaHa! Die! Help!_" than the the skull focused it's attention on us and screamed in a ear splitting "_NOOOOOOOOOOOO!_" everything inside the store shattered with sparks and glass flying everywhere. I had already grabbed Lily and barged through the store doors. Than all was silent. Without us having to look at the store again, we got in the truck and sped off toward the end of the street.

We were silent for the rest of the morning, the shock of seeing a T.V. Cry for help was making us uneasy. I broke the silence by asking "where do you want to go next? The police station? Or town hall?" Lily kept staring ahead, she took a long moment to respond but finally said "Police..." I took a right after the set of lights, broken because all of the lights were on and steady. After a good while navigating through the streets, the police station was finally in view. The doors were busted open and the windows were shattered. Inside, everything was clean including the floor. "Do you think someones here?" asked Lily. "Probably, there doesn't look to be and kind of desertion of any kind. The floors clean, the paint isn't peeling, and there doesn't happen to be much dust."

We walked over to the registration desk which was also clean except for a crumpled piece of paper on the floor. Lily continued on to the room behind the counter, the staff armory. Everything inside was clean just as the lobby was except for a locker that looked as if someone was trying to bust it open. Inside lied a lone key with a tag attached to it, A necklace with an arrow pendant on it, and a scrap of paper. Lily reached into the locker and picked up the key and the necklace. I picked up the piece of paper, torn and had a coffee stain on it. It only read 1958 in smudged black ink. "This necklace looks pretty good on me, can I wear it?" I looked at it for a minute and looked at Lily. "Knock yourself out..." She dawned on the necklace and handed me the key. "I think you should hold this, I tend to loose things..." I pocketed the key and we both started to break through the locker doors.

It has been half an hour and we only managed to break open four lockers using a wooden bench as a battering ram. Two of the lockers were empty but the other two had a promising reward, It was stocked with three pistols, A gun cleaner, ammo, and a gun holster. The other one had some money in it, there was no wallet but but the cash was tied in an elastic band and a small medical kit. We took a small break and ate our snacks from our packs. "I need to go to the bathroom" Lily said. "How bad?" I asked. "Not that bad..." Lily replied. "Do you want me to go with you?" I asked. Lily nodded her head, we packed up our gear and went on wandering through the station. "I don't want to meet another one of those things like at the store, it was kinda creepy..." I couldn't blame her, It was a little creepy interacting with a T.V. The whole station was empty and clean, but it looked like it was occupied recently. The silence was broken as cheesy elevator music broke into the intercom speakers. It startled us from the sudden change. "Hello?" I yelled. No response. The music was peaceful, Lily just gave me a strange looked and continued looking for the bathroom. We looked everywhere except for the prisoner cells. We entered the cell block and looked around. At the end was a Men/Woman restroom sign at the end of the hall. We walked right up to the door, only to find it locked. "You think the key you have will open the door?" asked Lily. Reaching into my pocket, She pulled out the key. "Yep!" she exclaimed, showing me thew tag saying _Master Key_. She unlocked the door and closed it behind her. I waited outside, looking at the sparkling clean cells, the sun shining through the windows.

On one cell, the I.D. Tag over it said 1958, Curious, I unlocked the cell and entered it. Nothing happened as I walked around in it, looked out the window, and banged my hands against the cell bars in a random rhythm. I just left the cell and waited for Lily. She was finished and we both started to raid the lockers again, this time using the master key instead of the bench. We got a few more guns, some police flashlights, handcuffs, medical kits, and some more money. The only strange thing was that there was no wallets, I.D.'s or badges. Satisfied, we both left, the lockers completely stripped of there contents. "Hold on, I'll be right back." I told Lily. Behind the counter, there was a piece of paper on the floor that we noticed earlier. I picked it up and read the small handwritten message inside. _Don't open cell 1958, DO NOT OPEN IT!!! "What...?" _was my only reply as I was suddenly picked up and flung against the wall. I started to lose consciousness as Lily started to scream. "Al! Al! Are you alright?! Speak to me!" my eye sight started to go red as blood came into my eyes. Then everything went black.


	5. Day: 4

**Day: 4**

My head was hurting, I knew I was unconscious but I didn't know if I really was or not. Images of what recently happened in the station swam by my vision. The key, the pieces of paper, the necklace. I was reliving the day though I don't know why. The image of the necklace always seemed to appear the most through the visions. Breathing sounds in the distance was probably mine, Dad taught me how to differentiate visions and sounds while unconscious or in a trance. "Least I'm alive..." I said to my self in my mind. "And that you are! Hello!" The voice scared the crap out of me. It was a disembodied voice, polite sounding and hypnotic, a female voice. "Who are you, where are you?" I asked. "I am nothing and no one, I do not exist but at the same time, do. If you want answers of all that has happened here, go to City Hall and go through the records. That key you found also unlocks anything in that place. Oh, and before I forget, the necklace is mine..." I had to think of what she was saying, A voice who claims itself as nothing and already giving me help. "Who are you?!" demanding answers. "Sorry, but you have to figure that for yourself... Lily wants you."

My body jolted upright, pain searing through my body. Dizzy and sick to my stomach, I looked around with blurred vision. Lily's voice was faint but it was slowly growing louder and clearer. "Hey, are you alright?" She was frightened I could tell, her breathing was shallow and her voice was shaking. "Yeah, yeah I'm alright. What happened?" She pressed her hand against my head, I'm guessing she's trying to see if I have a fever or something. "Well... you passed out first of all, than you just started to argue or something, after you said the necklace was mine. Than your body started to spasm all over and you just started to sweat. So really, you tell me." She handed me the necklace and simply said "here". I tossed her back the necklace and shook my head. "I was just having a bad dream, you keep it." She just smiled at me and put the necklace on. "Thanks!"

I tried to familiarize myself with my surroundings but it was unfamiliar. "Where am I?" I asked, my throat was hurting from being dry. "Your in the Hotel, I ran all the way back here to get the clerk to help me, but as always he's not at the desk. So I just took the truck and dragged you into it. You should learn to cut down on your weight, your a bit heavy!" I was shocked. "You can drive?" She shook her head enthusiastically "Yep! I'm not that young you know! Anyway, unless you plan on sleeping on this couch for another day, I would like to get back to the room so I can sleep!" What else was I suppose to say? I slept here for a day?!I didn't bother to ask her what she was doing the whole day, She looked terrible, probably sleep deprived. We both went upstairs and She went strait to her room. I headed to the bathroom to wash up.

My whole face was covered in dried blood, flakes here and there from me probably tossing and turning in my sleep or sweating. My eyes were bloodshot and my hair was all over the place. I decided to take a shower. The water was nice and warm, the shampoo smelled nice with a vanilla and ginger smell to it, the soap to the same smell. It was nice and relaxing, warm and clean. After the shower, I just brushed my teeth and sat in front of the new T.V. we "stole". There was no cable so I decided to watch a DVD, A Star Wars movie sounded nice. I haven't made it far since I knew what it was about and fell asleep during the second movie. I had the same recurring dream as the time before. The girl's voice, the necklace, and her hint of going to City Hall and checking the records. I awoke with a start, the Star Wars menu restarting for who knows how many times. I fixed myself a cup of coffee and staid up the rest of the night, writing in a notebook.

Lily was up early, her hair was crumpled and her eyes were puffy, she was squinting as she was making her way to the bathroom. She noticed me and gave a little hello. I said hello back. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Writing down the things we saw and where, I can't sleep". She yawned and gave me a little hug. "Go back to sleep, it's still early and we may have a long day tomorrow, I'll tell you later on today, but for now, get some rest." I told her. She nodded with another small yawn and headed to her bedroom. She fell back asleep, you can tell with her shallow breathing. I compiled together the "monsters" we have met in the past few days from the dogs in the mall to the invisible monster that attacked me. On the last few pages of the notebook, I left the very last three pages blank and instead, wrote what I have seen in the fourth page. Since Lily takes off her jewelry before she goes to bed, I snuck into her room and took the necklace. I sketched it on the page for reference and placed it back.

It had been a few hours since she woke up again, I told her what we were going to do today with her giving me a puzzled look. "What?" I asked. "Nothing, it's just... why are we going to City Hall?" she asked. "We need to figure out whats wrong with this place and where all the people have gone. The City Hall should have records about people, events, and places that things may have strange phenomenon and or anything else..." I replied. We packed up the things we may need including lights, food, firearms, and baseball bats. Lily was happy with the gun holster that we retrieved from the police department. Instead of looking out for the clerk, we just headed to the truck and drove down to City Hall. It wasn't hard to miss since it was a big place. It looked like a church except it did not have statues or stained glass that churches usually do. The dome on the roof had gold flakes on it but it was shattered and cracked. The Marble columns gave it a sort of a cathedral feeling as well but it to was cracked and the paint flaking.

The inside of the structure was very old, cobwebs, peeling paint, stench of burnt wood, and it was very dark. There was a light switch near the entrance and decided to turn it on. Only a few of the lights turned on, the others were either shattered or burnt out after a few seconds. But there was still enough light to make things out. The sunlight from outside was visible behind us but up ahead it was dark. The greenish blue wall paint didn't make the lighting any better. We went from door to door, the Mayors office, service desk, and the offices. We checked each room thoroughly, to make sure we didn't miss anything important. We used the skeleton keys on most of the doors since they were locked, others were open since the doorknobs rusted off or the windows in the doors were broken. We managed to get most the files we needed, others were scraps or smudged from rain fall over the years. As we exited the final room, I checked my watch to see how long we were getting everything we needed. It was 9:30 in the morning, good progress for me. Than I noticed something over the corner of my eye. The paint moved just a little bit, stirring like someone under a blanket. Than the same on the opposite wall, as well as the ceiling.

"Lily, did you see that?" I asked, not sure if it was just me. "Yeah..." Her voice trailed off as she to was focused on the movement. The little disturbance stopped, as if responding to our reaction. Than the spots where they moved started to bulge, stretching the paint. Than in some parts, it slowly started to turn brown and a dirty white colors. A face and a arm was distinguishable, as the bump started to manifest into a figure. "Lets get out of here!" Lily yelled, freaking out. I to agreed without hesitation and we bolted for the entrance. The figures started to scream of pain and rage. As the monster in the T.V. Before, they screamed for help and at the same time yelled for blood in rage. Lily and I paid no mind since we were preoccupied trying to get outside as soon as possible. One of them lunged its limb at Lily, grabbing a hold of her. As I reached for her, It started to yell at me and Lily, spitting on me, and trying to drag Lily into the wall. I shot at it first but the bullets just simply went through the creature and left small holes in it. Than I took out my bat and started to beat at its arm. It finally let go, but it left Lily with a very deep cut. She cradled her arm as I carried her outside to the truck, The voices subsided and everything was just as it was... quiet, dark, and scary.

I started up the truck and we headed back to the hotel as quickly as possible, Lily was bleeding a lot but she said she will manage, wincing once and a while. We got to the room and I managed to bandage her up. I tucked her into bed and gave her two glasses of water. Before I left to go back downstairs to get the files, I made some soup and heated it on the stove. I rushed downstairs and retrieved both of our packs full of files and our equipment. I locked up the truck and headed back upstairs.


	6. Day: 5

**Day: 5**

Lily was pale, yesterday we got attacked and I'm trying to comfort her from the shock. She is drinking her water and her soup fine, and she is recovering really slowly, I plan on giving her two days to rest while I do research on what happened. The first two files I went through described how the town was formed and who were among the first to populate it, pretty normal so nothing of interest. I set them aside and went through the other files. There was a file that caught some interest, a murderer that killed off a lot of people, and by this I mean a LOT of people. About 400 people. He was later found guilty and was executed by means of... "What the? Mummification?!". For all the executions, mummified isn't one of them, least in my perspective. As what the Egyptian predecessors have done before, they removed all of the organs and placed them in jars as they did back than, but for this... they placed in certain spots and are either buried or locked up somewhere. It is kind of horrific having a convicts entrails displayed to the public. The file had pictures of the prosecuted, the execution process, and had a list of locations where the jars are located, except for the last as it seems to be torn off. Before I set the file aside, a small strip of paper fell out of the folder, and it only read one thing that almost made me drop everything. _John Murdock, convicted of 400 murders, executed effective immediately, Cell #_1958.

I dove into the other files with interest ever since the murder file. These described the dates of the murders, who they were, how they died, and who killed them. Each file had at least 10 deaths per folder, and each were gruesome. "_Micheal Florence, Electronics store owner, died from electrocution, found with T.V. Power cords tangled around his body. murder suspect... John Murdock. Philis Davidson, City Hall office secretary, died from spontaneous combustion, found whats left of his body melted into the hallway walls. murder suspect... John Murdock_." The list when on with more electrocutions, spontaneous combustion, and other horrors. The last of the victims died 20 years ago, and his body was found not to far from here, his name was "_Gerald Hensley, Hotel manager, died from unknown heart failure, found in a closet behind the desk, murder suspect... John Murdock_".

I couldn't read anymore, least for now. I wrote everything in the notebook about the case and the victims. It was freak'in scary seeing this, we must have met some of the murder victims! And not to mention our friend downstairs is one of them! "I can't deal with this..." speaking to myself. Lily was sleeping peacefully in the bedroom, her water glasses drained and the soup almost gone. I decided to refill the glasses and let Lily rest some more. What I had to tell her was going to become a shock to her system. I cooked up a big meal of lemon chicken, some rice, a small vegetable plate, and a fruit desert to get my mind off things. I left some for Lily in case she was sick of soup. After a good 2 hours of cooking and preparing, I went back through the folders to uncover more of what happened, It would have been very strange to just have ghost's roaming around. One of the folders I picked up had a John's health record, He was in a psychiatric ward for mental instability. His plea was that his parents treated him poorly and he lost it. He started to have Psychic powers after banging his head against a wall a few hundred times. He broke out of the ward and went on a killing spree. I now got to see how he caused so many deaths in unbelievable ways. "Telekineses, Pyrokinesis, Telepathy..." The list went on the more I read. He must have been unstoppable or something if he had all those powers. The only thing that stops him is severe headaches every other day. That was when the police bagged him and he was sentenced to death immediately.

Before his death, He managed to have a daughter by the name of Margret Lawson. Her picture showed an innocent little girl smiling with what may have been her mother. The next page showed them hanged, for being in relation to John Murdock. I had to turn the page back to look at the girl's face. "Jesus, she didn't deserve it..." the mother also looked innocent, what she had around her neck explained otherwise. It was the Pendent that Lily has in her possession, I just gave up and reheated the food since it got cold. Lily was up and we both ate, watching a few comedy and fantasy movies to ease off yesterdays incident. And we finished off the evening with a good Cooperative game of "_War: Two Fronts_". Lily whooped me a few times but at least I showed a little resistance. I had a lot to tell her and she would not take it to well tonight. I tucked her back into bed and gave her a glass of tea, she dozed off and I went back to the files and organized them for Lily's viewing. I took a hot shower after everything was ready and soon went to bed right after.


	7. Day: 6

**Day: 6**

We had a very large breakfast early in the morning, We were still yawning and our eyes were blurring time to time. I handed Lily the paperwork, including the notebook and she delved right in, I was going through the stuff that I never got to. I had to look over at Lily often to see her reaction, she was sometimes wide eyed, and other times rubbing her eyes. But all the same, she was interested in my findings. I went through the remaining folders with nothing but birth certificates and death certificates. These were not uncommon since they were not of the 400 murdered by John Murdock. Shops were listed as either opened or closing. This bit of information surprised me because for some reason, some of the stores around here carry things that are sold not 3 years old or put on shelves recently, and these stores were last opened and closed in the past 30 years! The last folder reports strange incidents of how people disappeared in the town, not one of them found or clues to them. They just vanished.

Lily went through all of the documents and what I have written, It took a while but after she finally closed the last folder, she pushed everything aside and let out a huge sigh. "Wow... you had a lot of time on your hands... So we know that something bad has happened here, most of the creatures we met are actually dead victims of some psychic murderer, and I'm wearing a necklace of a dead girl, and not to mention that our hotel manager is also dead. Anything else to keep my pulse racing"? She wasn't sarcastic, truly she wasn't. In her eyes I can see fear, either the stuff we read or how everything is connected is a good reason. "You stay up here and rest, I got to pay Gerald a visit, and besides... we're overdue on the room rent." Lily objected but I commanded her to stay and heal. I heated some food up and presented it to her. I loaded up a one of our magnums and holstered it, with two extra ammo clips. I also brought a baseball bat just in case.

Lily still objected and wanted to come but I refused. Instead, if she wanted to help, I told her to order something from the kitchen that way I can find him easier. She was reluctant but she finally nodded in agreement and waited for 5 minutes so I can get down the stairs. I entered the lobby and waited, Gerald wasn't present at first but as soon as the service bell rang, he appeared from the closet and answered the call. "Hello? Why hello little miss, how may I serve you? A turkey dinner? Do you want mashed potatoes or stuffing with that? Potatoes? ok. It will be done in oh, say... 10 minutes, ok? Ok, bye bye." Gerald hung up the phone and headed for the kitchen. I gave him a few seconds to enter the doorway so I can sneak in behind him.

I found him at the stove, heating up what looked like fresh turkey and he started to peel some potatoes. This was my chance. "Hello Gerald!" I greeted as I entered the aluminum doorway. He sort of jumped at my sudden appearance, but than relaxed when he realized it was me. "Hello sir, What brings you to my fine kitchen?" he asked. "I'm here to pay my rent money, We are staying longer than we thought but this should do fine for now..." I handed him the money and he accepted. "I have a few questions to ask you, Gerald. Mind if you can pay us a visit to the room?" I asked. He looked at me with what appeared to be sad at first but than lightened up. "I'm sorry sir, but I have to remain at the Hotel desk at all times, you could stop by down there anytime." I nodded to confirm this and simply said "Ok, I'll see you in say... half an hour? We need to let Lily rest a bit, she had a bad cut on her arm, tripped over something outside. Is that ok?" He smiled at me and said, "Fine! Fine! I'll be there!" I left him to heat the turkey, paying him in advance before leaving the kitchen.

Back upstairs, I told Lily to help me pack some of the files we need into the backpack and we shared the turkey and potatoes, it wasn't half bad, except that gravy gave it a sort of sawdust taste. Me and Lily headed back downstairs, helping her down the stairs since she was still accustomed to moving around a lot, even going down a set of stairs. We arrived in the lobby with Gerald sitting on one of the couches, steaming tea cups resting on the table in front of him. He looked at us and gave a small smile, he looked nervous. "Hello..." greeted Lily, Gerald gave her a curt nod. We sat ourselves on the beat up and badly torn couch. Everyone was silent for a good while until I began to speak up, but Gerald beat me in breaking the silence. "I know what you are gonna say, why is a dead man running a hotel such as this? Well the truth may scare you... or maybe not depending on the person. Well! I guess its my turn to spill the beans I guess!" he gave a very weak laugh, than cleared his throat to continue on. "As you know, I was murdered by someone with extraordinary powers, I was cleaning the counter just like how you always see me, than that blasted John Murdock stopped by..." He drifted off for a bit.

Than he caught himself, blushing a little bit and continued. "I knew who the hell he was and I pulled out my trusty 'ol shotgun on him..." He caught Lily's wide eyed expression and quickly put in "Don't worry, at the time, he was mostly wanted dead than alive for his capture. All of the townsfolk had bought there own weapons at the local gun shop for protection. Anyways, on my part, it didn't turn out so well. He just whipped the gun out of my hand with his what was it? Telekinesis? Bah, he stopped me bloody heart with that power!" Gerald highlighted his chest area with both his hands as to show where he was, as how should I say? killed . "As I was on the floor dying, he just picked me up and shoved me in the closet!" Gerald than pointed at the closet that he usually hides from us all day. His eyes than turned into little slits and pointed at both of us in a cautionary way. "You better not go in there if I was you, even if you didn't eat anything today. My body lies in there, and seeing how I can't go on and bury myself, well... It's best leave it at that. I beg you not to go in there. Think of it as disturbing the peace..." Gerald laid back and waited as the words sank in. "Now, I bet you have a lot of questions to ask me, I'll answer as much as I can, but I do not know all of them."

Unconsciously, Lily and I sat up straighter on the cushions, We both reached into the backpack and unloaded the folders onto the table, careful not to mess some piles together. "Ah, I see you people have been doing some work on us haven't you?" Insisted Gerald, eying the paperwork. "Yes we have." I answered, trying not to sound proud of myself. "Now first off..." I began but this time Lily cut me off. "How are you here?" Inquired Lily, one eyebrow arched in a questioning expression. Gerald just sat back into his chair, sipping some of the still steaming tea. He placed the tea cup back on it's saucer and leaned forward toward us a little. "Well, for one thing, you already know I'm dead, But what you don't know is that some of the residual energy that John used on me still exists, even after all these years, even all those who from him are still in this ever changing world. I'm guessing you met some of the other town folk?" Me and Lily looked at each other, quizzically. Before any of us could respond, he quickly put in "you might not have noticed, but some of the folk are ummm... how should I say? Aggressive?" taking the hint Lily put in a long "ooohhh... yes, we met some of them." Gerald gave a small nod. "There are two types of town folk in this here town, the aggressive and the hiding. The ones you haven't met, the Hiding types are in this here hotel, you don't see them because, well, their hiding! They have taken up residence in this hotel in the floors between the lobby and your room, surely you wondered what was on those floors?" We both shook our heads. "How about this, I'll introduce them to you tomorrow, reason being is that I got guard duty here, to ward off the aggressive. Since I am the last to die, the Energy is stronger with me and the fact that I am already dead, I don't have to fear it!"

Gerald motioned us to the stairs and vanished behind the counter, into the closet.


End file.
